Four-Way Test Plaques Available for Businesses

Posted by Courtney Olson

on Dec 27, 2012

District 6440 is proud to make available handsome and customizable "Four-Way Test Plaques" for businesses and clubs. Each plaque can feature a color logo of the recognized business or governmental body. Plaques cost $60 plus $7 shipping, with $15 for each plaque being donated to the End Polio Now campaign. Quantity discounts are also available.

"Rotary offers members a unique opportunity to serve others through one's vocation," said Courtney Olson, member of the Rotary Club of Northbrook and member of the District 6440 Vocational Service Committee. "One way we do this is by adopting the highest ethical standards in all our decisions and behaviors, as individuals and through the organizations we lead. These plaques allow Rotarians and other like-minded citizens to proudly proclaim their organization’s commitment to high ethical standards.”

Ron Bernardi of Sunset Foods and another member of the Rotary Club of Northbrook, will be posting these new plaques in each of his 5 stores. “Our business has been built on the highest levels of customer service,” said Ron. “The Four-Way test provides a great road map for making everyday decisions that assure we meet not only the highest ethical standards, but also our high standards for great service. I’m proud to be a Rotarian, and proud to publicly display this important part of Rotary in my family’s businesses.”

The Four-Way Test was authored by Herbert J. Taylor, a member of the Rotary Club of Chicago. Taylor came up with the four simple precepts in 1932, when Club Aluminum Company, where he was president, was facing almost certain bankruptcy. In the depths of the Depression, no one was buying much aluminum. But Taylor thought that if he could convince his employees to do the right thing in every situation, they might at least win sales from their competitors. “So one morning,” he would often recount, “I leaned over my desk, rested my head in my hands. In a few moments, I reached for a white paper card and wrote down what had come to me – in 24 words.”

Five years later, Club Aluminum was back in the black. Taylor always credited The Four-Way Test with its resurgence. Rotary International adopted the test in 1943, and Taylor became RI president in 1954. At one point, our organization assumed the copyright on his test. Now in the public domain, it has been adopted by scores of companies in the 75 years since he thought up its four principles, which remain relevant today.“